Persistance pays off, 10pt down in michigan.

brad_vanderband1 · 10-10-2008, 04:33 PM

It started out as apretty cool morning around 48deg. i got to my stand about half and hour before first light and got all situated, mounted my camera arm and camera for the first time in the dark, only to find out when it got lighter that it wasnt gonna work that way. but i didnt dare take the extra movement and noise and that point and time seeing as it was first light. I had just hung this stand about a week ago and never really got to hunt it yet, but i had a good feeling about it this morning. So right at legal light i have 4 deer working under me 2 little bucks a doe and a fawn. Which was fun to watch. About 8am i see more deer movement of to my right and notice its a goup of bucks, one of which is a shooter. He of course wasnt coming my way so i hit thegrunt call which stopped him for a second then he would continue on. So i got more aggressive, just short grunts but quick and lots, i think it more of irritated him more than anything, but it was enough. He came in slighty quartering too at 21 yards and i let the thunder head xp eat. He tore off for about 40-50 yards and stopped. at which point im like tip over, come on tip over. but instead he slowly walked off. At this point i am really guestioning the shot and replaying it over and over. I started thinking i got guts. It was too thick to see my arrow hit him, but i know it made a solid whack, which meant boiler room, but i have never had a deer act like that when lunged. So i kept looking at my arrow through my binocs and came up with the assumption that i got lung but liver as the blood was dark. And not wanting to bump him as liver shots take time i just waited in stand. I didnt pack my stuff up till 10:30 giving him lots of time. After retrieving my arrow it confirmed my thoughts on liver, but had no guts or smell to it, so im thinking dead deer. So i go to where i saw it stand and then walk off and theres blood, not a lot but some and for 40 yards i would have a good spot and then a tiny little spot, alot of which i was on my hands and knees. So i realize now im in trouble and just start wandering around in the direction he was heading hopeing to stumble across him. Well that didnt go so well, and i was sweating and starving as its after noon now. Soi go home to change and eat and come back. As im on my way home im calling all my freinds to see if anyone is available. As one would have it only the last person i called was, so i picked him up and we went back there. showed him where i shot him, were i found blood and we continued on, on our hands and knees looking for blood. after and hour we gave up and decided to do a grid search. So we started in the back corner of the property working our way to the road. Well this stuff is nasty, thick and stuff you cant hardly walk through much less find a dead deer. But we kept on it, we werent gonna quit till we found him. After searching about half of the fourty acres every inch of it we found him. He was about 20 yards from the road, he must have walked over 300 yards and made a half circle back around the stand. Completely not in the direction we were looking, but we werent stopping we new he was out there. Turns out on gutting i got front lung,liver and a slice in the opposite lung. How he managed to survive and go that distance is beyond us but he did, and we worked and sweated our asses of for him but, we found him. And i know what your all gonna say about the man law and this thread is worthlesss without pics but my computer is gay and wont let photobucket work. So if you want them i can email them too. Thanks for letting me share.

Bowtech 360 · 10-10-2008, 05:16 PM

HMM, you know the man law and yet you decide to post with no pics? I think you might want to go get a new computer before you need a new pair, wink wink.

V8Ranger · 10-10-2008, 05:18 PM

Way to stick in there looking for him, Congrats!! But I have to say it, Man law violation lol. You can upload them on here as long as there under 100kb. You can edit your photo to make it a little smaller, do it a little at a time so you dont make it to small. Then up load it. If you cant then just e-mail it to me and I will post it for you. dyb3and8@stny.rr.com

crabclaw · 10-10-2008, 05:36 PM

I read all of that great story and no pic's. That's a definate sac punch. lol. Way to be persistent, and not give up. Hopefully we get to see some photos soon.